- Dad Elf
Rocko's Modern Life is one of the most underrated animated series of all time. Sure, that doesn't make much sense considering it was very successful and admired. I mean it in the context of it being the follow-up show of the big original three. The show didn't break away into true mainstream success but, more importantly, it created animation's future, as several of the Rocko writers would go on to their own huge success stories. It also was a bit too closely linked in style and tone as with The Ren and Stimpy Show, except Rocko's Modern Life had humor and heart and wasn't controlled by a slightly deranged dingbat and then turned into corporate left-overs.
"Rocko's Modern Christmas" was the first episode of the second season. In a way, the episode was a close homage to A Charlie Brown Christmas. The story deals with anti-commercialism, a Christmas card plot, a mishandled gathering of the cast, and the search of true Christmas cheer. However, the episode still retains its goofy absurdist humor and social messages, creating an unique special that lampoons the traditional values in favor of a celebration of multiculturalism and addresses topics such as bigotry.
Rocko and his dog Spunky walk out of their house on Christmas Eve to complain about the lack of snow and Christmas cheer all around O-Town. The humdrum outlook is further expanded do to this being Rocko's first Christmas celebration after his immigration to America from his birth land of Australia. He chooses to have a small get-together with his two best friends, Heffer and Filbert, only to have it become a full-blown party with all of the town's citizens. Rocko also notices the new neighbors on the street, a pack of elves who are the only ones putting up outside decorations. While shopping at the mall, He saves and befriends one of them, a silent yellow unnamed individual, and invites the rest to the party. However, Rocko's neighbor Mr. Bighead notices all of this and, spurned by his lack of an invitation, decides to ruin it with some good ole hateful discrimination.
Despite my general overview, this episode is filled with the usual loony idiosyncratic humor that defined the show. Since the main message is about everyone "forgetting their differences and coming together" and having Christmas cheer, there is a lack of the ordinary holiday iconography. Instead of the often celebration of Santa Claus, he is only seen as a dancing laser-spewing robot and is replaced in his usual mall seat with Fruitcake Man, a low-key man who loves the children and wants them to bite him. Christmas trees are lampooned by either existing as cactus plants and an upside-down nutcrackers or being living creatures with mouths. The elves are given names after hardware appliances, except for Mango who was named because the head Dad Elf was "feeling fruity." And, in true children animation humor, a snow cloud is represented by a constipated being.
The special also deals with very serious social issues, with the biggest one being bigotry and racism. Mr. Bighead hates the Christmas celebration so much that he is willing to sabotage his own wife's party plans. He sees both Rocko and the incoming elves as what they represent to him, the unwanted outsiders who will ruin his utopian environment. Bighead preys on the easiest victim, the constantly-nauseated Filbert, to spread the news that the elves have deadly "Festering Foot Fungi." The news spread to the other party-goers, before reaching to the elves that "trolls" are instead coming with the disease. The most clear example of the racism subtext is in an early scene at the mall, where the cheery little yellow elf is picked on by several gator shoe-salesmen. They hit and insult him with a number of names, such as leprechaun and pixie, and are willing to beat up the maning-up Rocko for being a "pixie lover."
Rocko, voice-acted in a great awkard method by Carlos Alazraqui, represents the simple dreamer who wishes to use the holiday as a bridge for other cultures and different celebrations. For a place that has a talking foot and a mop-loving psycharist as some of its residents, Rocko is the only one who wants to bring everyone out of their own houses and fears. He avoids the easy-money schemes that hurt his two best friends morally and simply wants snow to fall down to bring comfort. Rocko is a great innocent character, willing to quickly forgive and forget his large amount of friends to enjoy some warmth at the only house that received snow.
Joe Murray and his crew made a very fine and enjoyable Christmas episode. They used both reality and non-reality to make a sentimentally surreal special. Instead of presents and Santa Claus, it focused only on humanity and morality.
TOMORROW'S ENTRY: What I consider the best of the Nicktoon Christmas specials.
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